


Imagine Us

by shopfront



Category: Imagine Me & You (2005)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Moving In Together, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22244542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: Four moments in time after Heck runs into Edie, and she accidentally knocks events off course.
Relationships: Heck/Rachel (Imagine Me & You), Luce/Rachel (Imagine Me & You)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27
Collections: Holly Poly 2019





	Imagine Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Karios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/gifts).



“You will not believe who I ran into today!” Heck declared as he walked up to the bar.

Coop was there with Rachel and already harassing some poor passing woman—not that she looked bothered by it. One of Rachel’s friends looked more put out than Coop’s target did, which. _Good for her_ , Heck thought. _Feminism, yeah!_

“Well, isn’t someone going to guess who I ran into?”

“Sorry,” Rachel replied, finally raising her eyes from her wine glass and visibly shaking herself to try and focus. “Sorry, Heck. Who did you run into?”

“Edie!” Heck replied with a broad grin. Rachel’s eyes widened but she didn’t react otherwise. She just stared at Heck in silence for a long moment while her friends exchanged glances and Coop continued obliviously flirting. Confused, Heck flung out his hands in a little ta-da movement and waited a beat before continuing. “You remember Edie! Luce’s friend, we ran into them in the supermarket together. There was all the walking and meeting and walking and waving. Remember?”

“Right, right. Yes! Yes, of course I remember Edie. How is she? Did she say anything… interesting?” Rachel asked, taking a hasty gulp of her drink.

Heck frowned a little as he thought back over his afternoon. “I mean, not really. She seemed to find me very amusing and I wasn’t quite sure what that was about, and then she had to leave. But I did discover that she frequents that new cafe near the office, so perhaps next time I run into her there we’ll be able to have a proper chat. She also said that she could tell me a thing or two that would blow my mind. Not sure what that’s about either, to be honest. She very well might still have been laughing at me.”

Rachel’s friends tittered appropriately at his self-deprecation at least. But Rachel just smiled faintly and turned her eyes back to her wine, watching it as she swirled the glass in her hand. Biting his lip, Heck narrowed his eyes and resisted the urge to say hmm as he watched his wife.

He really did need to go back to that coffee shop because he was running out of ideas. Dinner hadn’t worked, nor had seeing family, and drinks out with friends already looked like a bust. The only thing left on his Cheer Up Rachel list was to buy her flowers. Maybe something expensive and fancy from Luce would do the trick.

But Edie was a woman. More importantly, Edie was a woman who might be convinced not to report his every word and worry back to Rachel. Perhaps, if he bought her lunch, she might be willing to help.

*

“It’s okay, you know,” Heck told her quietly over breakfast a week later.

Rachel made a curious sound as she finished stirring the sugar and passed the drink to Heck. It was still early enough that she wasn’t feeling particularly alert, despite a stumbling journey out to the kitchen for more hot water. Another night of interrupted sleep—and conflicted feelings—hadn’t helped matters.

“At least, I hope it’s okay. I think maybe it can be okay, if we talk about it now. Like right now, or… maybe not right now. I suppose it doesn’t have to a breakfast conversation if you don’t want it to be, but soon, we should talk definitely about it—”

“Heck!” Rachel broke in, putting down her own tea and newspaper. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Grimacing, Heck ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Then he looked at her, blanched, and hurriedly downed his entire fresh cup of tea. Finally, he took a deep breath and started speaking again.

“You’re sad and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Rachel’s stomach turned to lead. She opened her mouth, but Heck just started speaking faster.

“I tried all the usual stuff, but nothing seemed to help so I might have become just a wee bit desperate. Desperate enough to talk to Edie—”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open as she stared. “Edie?!”

“Yes, Edie. I know you don’t agree with me but she’s really very lovely, even despite the way she’s always laughing at me. But that’s not the point,” Heck said.

He paused to take a deep breath.

“The _point_ is that I’m not making you happy right now, Rach, and that’s all I want to do. Make you happy. No, don’t act like I’m talking shite,” he said, waving away her protests. “I haven’t been enough for you for months now. Or we haven't, I don't know. But now I get it. No one person can be everything to someone else. So when you’ve figured out whatever—or _whoever—_ else you need to be happy again, Rach. Just. Let me know, yeah? That’s all I want.”

He watched her for a long moment, but somehow Rachel couldn’t lift so much as a finger in response. She just sat there, frozen, as Heck smiled sadly and kissed on her the cheek then slipped out of bed.

“I miss your smile,” he finished quietly once he’d reached the doorway. “Think about it, that’s all I’m asking.”

*

“It’s alright, Heck isn’t going anywhere. He told me so,” Henrietta announced over lunch one day.

“Well, I should think not, sweetheart. That’s what happens when people get married,” her mother said absently.

“I told him that they just need to get a really big bed. If it’s bigger, then there’s enough room for Luce and Heck doesn’t have to leave,” Henrietta continued. “That’s good because then Luce can stay, too. I like Luce. What are beds made of?”

“Mattresses and pillows and things. What do you mean, they need a bigger bed for Luce? Luce the florist? What does Luce the florist have to do with Rachel and Heck’s bed?”

Henrietta danced her toys across the table, humming to herself, until her mother repeated the question. “I didn’t understand that bit either. Heck said he’d tell me when I’m older,” she said with a shrug. “He also said it’s alright that I don’t understand because he didn’t understand at first and someone had to explain it to him as well. So it’s not just me who was confused. When was the first mattress invented?”

“Tell you when you’re—,” she replied with a huff. “What on— I’m not sure darling, probably the first time someone decided to live in the same cave their whole life and wanted to make it comfortable. What does that even mean, he’ll tell you when you’re older?”

*

“This is all your fault, you know,” Luce said when Edie started laughing.The puppy whined and squirmed until it could reach far enough to lick Luce’s chin whichjust made Luce glare harder when Edie doubled over and starting whacking her thighs.

“I might have given Heck a little push but I had nothing to do with this disaster in the making,” Edie protested between wheezes. Luce rolled her eyes and started to relent in her glaring, but the puppy immediately starting wriggling in her grip until Edie was laughing so hard her face was turning red. “I can’t believe someone convinced you to own an animal that will try to eat your flowers if you're not careful. Let me guess, Rachel thought it was cute?”

“No. Heck wanted a child,” Luce said dryly.

Edie sat up, laughter abruptly gone. “Oh, shit. What did you say?”

“Well it’s not really about me, is it,” Luce replied with a shrug as she finally gave up and put the puppy back in its pen, wincing when it immediately yipped to be picked back up.

“Isn’t it?” Edie asked. “I mean, you do live here now, right? You seem like you live here.”

Luce pulled a face as she stood up. “Sort of. I’ve been kind of night-on, night-offing it. It’s a longer trek to the shop from here, and sometimes I feel awkward about it. I mean, they’ve lived here together for ages. They got engaged here and _married_ here, and I guess I worry I’m intruding.”

Edie nodded thoughtfully and watched as Luce popped the kettle on and returned to the table. She grabbed a biscuit jar from the counter as she passed by, and brought it with her.

“Yeah. You’re not at home here at all,” Edie observed with raised eyebrows as Luce helped herself to a biscuit and offered the jar to Edie.

Luce started to protest, but her words were too muffled by food to be audible. Before she could swallow and start over, the front door slammed and a voice sung out.

“Luce? Are you home?”

 _‘Home’,_ Edie mouthed as her eyebrows raised further. Luce just huffed and smacked her lightly on the arm.

“We’re up here,” she called out once she’d cleared her throat. Two sets of footsteps quickly turned into Rachel and Heck, laden down with shopping.

“Edie! Look Rachel, Edie’s here,” Heck said with delight as he rounded the table, giving Edie an awkward little wave as he tried and failed to both kiss Luce hello on the cheek and put the groceries on the counter at the same time.

“Hi, Edie,” Rachel echoed with a smile as she followed, swooping in more gracefully to peck Luce on the lips before helping Heck to unpack. “We picked up more stuff for that vegetable fritter recipe you liked, Luce. Edie, would you like to join us? We have more than enough.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Edie said, beaming at Luce who just shook her head in pseudo-despair.

“Excellent, excellent,” Heck muttered as he passed them again, squeezing Luce on the shoulder as he headed straight for the puppy which was yipping with even greater fervour and jumping around at all the commotion. “And how’s my little lad, hmm? How’s my adorable little guy?”

Distantly, Luce heard the kettle click and Rachel rattling around in the cupboard for more cups as she watched Heck baby talk the dog and Edie pull mocking faces back at her. Edie was mouthing something again. Probably something obnoxious, but she couldn’t figure out the words and Edie would just go ahead and say it all out loud for Rachel and Heck to hear if Luce made the mistake of asking.

So she just picked up another biscuit and accepted a cup from Rachel—perfectly made just the way she liked it, as always—and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Maybe Edie was a little right. Maybe it was starting to feel a bit like home.


End file.
